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Shipping will require additional 42,500 officers in five years

Shipping will require an
additional 42,500 officers by the end of 2019 to cope with the expected
growth in the main cargo carrying fleet, equivalent to
7 percent growth over the five year period. But the persistent
shortage of officer crew is receding, according to the latest Manning Report
published by global shipping consultancy Drewry.

Current officer supply is in the
order of 615,000 and there is a nominal shortfall of approximately 15,000
officers, which is expected to remain the case until 2019. In the main the
shortfall is made up by officers working longer shift patterns.

“There is still a shortage of
officers but the gap between demand and supply has narrowed as the recent
growth in fleet size is coming to an end”, said Malcolm Jupe, lead
analyst at Drewry.

Although ratings' remuneration
packages tend to follow the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF)
standard terms, officer earnings are more market driven; North West Europe is
however the principal exception to the rule. In the current market, most
shipowners cannot afford significant increases in wage rises and any
increases which have been seen between 2014 and 2015 have been modest in
nature.
It is also the case that ships are getting bigger and larger ships provide
more shipping capacity for the same number of vessels. This is also helping
to ease some of the pressure on manning.

“Manning is normally the single largest cost head in ship operations. Keeping
these costs under control remains very important to all shipowners,
especially when trading conditions are weak, as is the case in some of the
key shipping freight markets – such as dry bulk carriers”, concluded Mr Jupe.